Question

What is the degree of the Polynomial `3-4z^4 w^8u^6 7u^9zw^8`?

Answer 1

The greatest sum of exponents of each of the terms, namely:

`4+8+6+9+1+8=36`

Explanation:

This polynomial has two terms (unless there is a missing `+` or `-` before the `7u^9zw^8` as I suspect).

The first term has no variables and is therefore of degree `0`.

The second term has degree `4+8+6+9+1+8=36`, which being greater than `0` is the degree of the polynomial.

Note that if your polynomial should have been something like:

`3-4z^4w^8u^6+7u^9zw^8`

then the degree would be the maximum of the degrees of the terms:

`0`

`4+8+6 = 18`

`9+1+8 = 18`

so the degree of the polynomial would be `18`